Before Shohei Ohtani there is Dave Winfield

Forty-three years before the Los Angeles Dodgers award Shohei Ohtani with a staggering 10-year, $700 million contract, baseball’s biggest contract is signed on this date in 1980 as right fielder Dave Winfield agrees to a 10-year free agent deal with the New York Yankees.

Winfield’s deal is worth $23.3 million.

Total.

Ohtani – the unicorn who pitches like the All-Star he is and performs even better as a designated hitter – reportedly is structuring his record-setting contract to receive just $2 million in each of the next 10 seasons with the remaining $680 million to be paid over the first 10 years after the contract expires in 2033.

The $2 million per season puts Ohtani far closer to the entry-level, major league minimum of $740,000 than to the top of the salary chart that better reflects his talent level.

Worry not, though, for Ohtani, who still pulls in $45 million or so in endorsement deals.

As for Winfield, the future Hall of Famer fulfills his contract with the Yankees before signing a series of free agent contracts with California, Toronto, Minnesota and Cleveland to extend his career through the 1995 season.

While his $700 million deal dwarfs Winfield’s $28 million in career earnings, Ohtani still is chasing the one thing that Winfield has that he does not – namely, a World Series ring.

Of course, Ohtani figures to get plenty of chances to earn at least one over the next decade with the perennially talent-rich Dodgers.